Category Archives: Third Edition

TMC: You surprised the industry and markets in October 2014 by announcing that Hewlett-Packard would be split into two separate entities – Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. What do you say to those who have claimed that splitting the company in two will hinder innovation, rather than facilitate it?

Ms Whitman: First, we think that separating is the right thing for our customers, partners and shareholders. We’ve spent the last three years working to turn Hewlett- Packard around, and we now have the leadership, the go-to-market, the balance sheet, the confidence of our various constituencies and the innovation engine that allows us to separate successfully. Each company will have its own innovation agenda and own ability to fund R&D the way they think is best. We have established a Separation Management Office tasked with driving the process forward, so the rest of the company can focus on their work of addressing our customers’ needs and on creating ground-breaking innovations.

TMC: What lessons have you learned, as a successful female entrepreneur, about the differences between how men and women run their businesses? Do you think that men or women have any particular innate advantages? And how do you see women’s role in the tech sector relating to Social Knowledge Management, which you and your business partner, Fred Walters, have pioneered?

Renee Lalonde: iTalent share a common vision of innovation and entrepreneurship in the tech space, and we also believe wholeheartedly in the important role that women can play in this industry.

Wearable Experiments is rapidly developing wearable technology that is invisible, waterproof, durable and above all design-focussed.

Young Australian fashion designer, Billie Whitehouse and her business partner, electrical engineer Ben Moir, set up their company, Wearable Experiments (We:Ex) as a socially driven wearable technology company with a mission to bring together fashion and technology with a functional design aesthetic, and use creative problem solving to help us all live well and have a better quality of life.

People often asked what the value of angel investing is as part of an investment portfolio. I always answer: “compared to what?” In my experience over the past fifteen years as an angel investor, the answer to this question depends entirely on the expectations on the individual investor.

The world is becoming increasingly mobile and connected. From watches to jewellery, smartphones of all sizes, phablets, tablets, laptops, desktop computers… all feature sensors, screens and chipsets. All of these devices are enabling an almost infinite computing capacity which is no longer restricted to specialised sites, such as data centres; it is ubiquitous.

by Kate McKenzie, Chief Operations Officer, Telstra and GTWN President for Australia

What a busy start to the year it has been! I am pleased to say that 2014 was a very successful year, both domestically and internationally for Telstra. My colleagues and I have continued to address the challenges of promoting an innovation-led culture change, while also adjusting our business to the changing realities of the Australian and Asia-Pacific marketplace – both issues that we will continue to address in the year(s) ahead.

Many commentators have dubbed the 21st Century as the Asian Century and it would be difficult to dispute this claim against the backdrop of strong and sustained economic growth in Asia over the last 30-plus years.

by Michele Merrell, Vice President Global Marketing and Communications, CSPI and GTWN President for the US

As we convene for the 2015 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we once again meet at an extraordinary time in the mobile industry. Technology that was once seen as only science fiction in the movies continues to be our reality of today, and continues to rapidly transform our world. Indeed, if the technology has been visualized, it is quite possible that it already has been, or will be built. Traditional mobile industry boundaries and geographies are disappearing and the entire world of instantaneous communications continues converging. We are seeing a future where there is a predicted 30% increase in connected things – from appliances to cars – globally, from a 2014 statistic of 4.9 billion connected devices to 25 billion by 2020. This is supported by worldwide smart phone sales, which tipped 1.3 billion sold in 2014 – which equates to 3.5 million every day, or 148,400 sold every hour (Source: IDC, Smartphone Marketshare Q3 2014).

The lessons I learned from the dark days at Alibaba are that you’ve got to make your team have value, innovation, and vision. Also, if you don’t give up, you still have a chance. And, when you are small, you have to be very focused and rely on your brain, not your strength. Jack Ma

Another insight into the mind of this entrepreneur comes from Ma’s oftquoted views on the importance of persistence, of following your dream. “Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.”

There has been a steady increase over recent years in the number of online fashion retailers such as Asos, Yoox, Shopcade, BlueFly, Belle & Clive and many more. The emergence of such companies has influenced the traditional bricks and mortar fashion retailers including the bigger department stores such as Macys, Selfridges, and Saks Fifth Avenue (USA), Printemps or Galeries Lafayette (France), and Debenhams and Selfridges (UK) for example. In response, they have created their own online retail channels and have tried to leverage their customer base to compete with their digital only competitors. The impact on employment has been mixed, with a number of more traditional sale assistant jobs disappearing, while new positions in online and social marketing, e-commerce and logistics, have been created.

In the future, our cities will be full of sensors and generating tons of data to help us find a parking spot, save water in irrigation, monitor pollution levels and make cities more efficient, urban resilient and livable.

But how much data will this be? We are already generating a lot of data. For example, Twitter is generating 80GB/day, which seems a lot, but this is nothing compared to a gas turbine engine that generates 520 GB per day, and per blade. There are 20 blades in each one. Imagine how much data we’ll generate when we have all those things connected to the Internet?

It may not have been planned that way, but the GTWN was delighted to notice that the 2014 Sir Arthur Clarke Award Ceremony, hosted at The Royal Aeronautical Society in London, UK, on Wednesday 8th October 2014 had a healthy recognition of both men and women who have contributed so much to space, science, and technology. The Sir Arthur Clarke Awards, presented annually since 2005 in cooperation with the UK Space Agency and the British Interplanetary Society, recognize notable or outstanding achievements in, or contributions to, all space activities. Current and Emeritus Board Directors include GTWN International Board Members, the Hon. Diana Lady Dougan and Walda Roseman.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author best known for 2001: A Space Odyssey, described the inherent folly of predicting the future in a 1964 BBC documentary, but then went on to do exactly that – with remarkable, unnerving accuracy. He talked about how the world would be in fifty years’ time (i.e. 2014) – about how the advancement of transistors and satellites would radically alter our understanding of physical space.

The Mobile Century: Life and Work in the Digital Era

Welcome to the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Mobile Century (TMC)

The Mobile Century (www.themobilecentury.com) is a publication of the Global Telecom Women’s Network
(GTWN). GTWN began as a small network of senior women in the telecommunications industry more than
twenty years ago, and has grown and changed as the industry it represents has also evolved. It now represents the interests and thoughts of women, and their male colleagues, in all of the ‘’t’’ industries – including telecommunications, information technology and TMT.

In this edition we celebrate the past twenty-five years of the GTWN's contribution to the TMT industry through a bold exploration of the potential of the next twenty-five years. Each essay examines a different aspect of that future. While sounding some notes of caution, especially about the potential impact of AI and robotics on our social and economic fabric, together they present a positive vision for the next generation.

We acknowledge once again the generous sponsorship of iTalent Corporation and its CEO Renee LaLonde. Many thanks also to our authors - experts in their field who have given so generously of their time and expertise to create a work of lasting value. We hope you enjoy reading this very special edition of TMC and that it provides you with much food for thought about how to help create the best possible future for us all